USA > New York > Ontario County > History of Ontario county, New York : with illustrations and family sketches of some of the prominent men and families > Part 38
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
Moody, Valentine Perkins, David Miller, Mr. Clark, the prominent Barden family, Daniel Sutherland, Sylvester Smith, Levi Gland, John Thompson and others.
From the large number of names of early settlers above mentioned it will be seen that the settlement of this town must have been very rapid, and when we consider that none of those named were from the part of the town recently set off to Geneva, the conclusion must be natural and correct that Seneca was settled and improved as early as any district or town in the county. In 1800 the population of the whole county was only 15,218, yet the assertion is made that of the number the then town of Seneca had at least 2,000. In fact, until Geneva was set off, Seneca was by far the largest town in the county. In 1810 the population was 3,431 ; in 1830 it was 6,161 ; in 1840 it was 7,073 ; in 1850 it was 8,505 ; in 1860 it was 8,448; in 1870 it was 9,188; and in 1880, by reason of the erection of Geneva, the local population was only 2,877; in 1890 it was 2,690.
In 1793 the population of the town was deemed sufficiently great to warrant its complete organization by the election of officers, conse- quently a town meeting was held at " the house of Joshua Fairbanks, Innkeeper," on the first Tuesday in April, 1793. At this time the first town officers were elected, as follows: Supervisor, Ezra Patterson ; town clerk, Thomas Sisson ; assessors, Oliver Whitmore, James Rice, Phineas Pierce; commissioners of highways, Patrick Burnet, Samuel Wheadon, Peter Bartle, jr .; collector, Sanford Williams ; overseers of the poor, Jonathan Oaks, David Smith ; constables, Charles Harris, Stephen Sisson, Whelds Whitmore; overseers of highways, Nathan Whitney, Oliver Humphrey, Jerome Loomis, Jeremiah Butler, Benj. Tuttle, Wm. Smith, jr., David Benton, Benjamin Dixon ; fence viewers, Amos Jenks, John Reed, Joseph Kilbourn, Seba Squiers, Caleb Culver ; poundmasters, Peter Bartle, jr., David Smith ; sealer of weights and measures, Peter Bartle, sr .; surveyor of lumber, Jeremialı Butler.
Among the first proceedings of the town authorities were those relat- ing to the laying out of highways, among them, and one of the very first, being one of historical importance, inasmuch as it was evidently laid out on the old Indian trail which led southeast from the foot of Sen- cca street, and afterwards in a westerly direction until it reached the
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TOWN OF SENECA.
west line of the town. The western part of this was where the turnpike from the old pre emption road was laid out later on.
The officers elected in 1793 and mentioned above were chosen, the reader will of course understand, from the town of Seneca, as at that time constituted, therefore including all that is now the town of Geneva. The center of population at that time, and for many years afterward, was at Geneva, and here all trade and barter was carried on ; therefore it was usual that the town meetings should be held at the village, the first at Joshua Fairbanks' "Inn "; the second at " the house of Elark Jennings, Inn Keeper," the third at the house of Ezra Patterson ; the fourth at Benjamin Tuttle's house ; the fifth at the house of Epenetus Hart, adjoining Powell's Hotel ; the sixth and seventh at Powell's Ho- tel, and so on to the end of the list. In this connection it is interesting to note the succession of supervisors of the old town of Seneca from its organization to the present time, which succession is as follows .
Ezra Patterson 1793; Ambrose Hull, 1794-95 ; Timothy Allen, 1796; Ezra Patterson, 1797-98; Samuel Colt, 1799; Ezra Patterson, 1800-1801; Samuel Wheadon, jr., 1802; Ezra Patterson, 1803-04 ; Septimus Evans, 1805-14; John M. Cullough, 1815 ; Septimus Evans, 1816-17; Nathan Reed, 1818-28. The records of town officers be- tween the years 1828 and 1838 cannot be found. Abraham A. Post, 1838-42 ; Philo Bronson, 1843; Abraham A. Post, 1844-47 ; John L. Dox, 1848-49 ; Chas. S. Brother, 1850-51 ; Lucius Warner, 1852-54 ; James M. Soverhill, 1855-56; John Whitwell, 1857-58; Perez H. Field, 1859-60; Joseph Hutchinson, 1861-62 ; George W. Nicholas, 1863-68 ; Samuel Southworth, 1869-70; John Post, 1871-72; Seth Stanley, 1873; Edward S. Dixon, 1874; Seth Stanley, 1875; Robert Moody, 1876-81 ; Levi A. Page, 1882-89 ; H. Joel Rice, 1890-93.
Present Town Officers-H. Joel Rice, supervisor ; Mathew D. Law- rence, town clerk ; Harmon W. Onderdonk, Orson S. Robinson, W. H. Whitney, assessors ; E. S. Dixon, Eben E. Thatcher, Wm. H. Barden, W. D. Robinson, justices of the peace ; Albert M. Knapp, John B. Esty, Hamilton Rippey, excise commissioners; John H. Carr, Frank L. Pars- hall, C. E. Onderdonk, commissioners of highways; overseer of the poor, James Woods.
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418
HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
Returing again briefly to the period of old times, we find the pioneers of Seneca engaged in the laudable enterprise of raising a fund for the purpose of building a bridge across Flint Creek at Castleton, to form a part of the main thoroughfare from the town to the county seat. The subscribers to this fund, with the amount of their respective subscrip- tions, in pounds, were as follows : Sanford Williams, 8 ; Oliver Whit- more, 3; Nathan Whitney, 6; Solomon Gates, 3 ; Hugh Maxwell, 2 ; Samuel Warner, 3 ; Warner Crittenden, 3 ; Ebenezer Bunt, 3 ; Solomon Warner, 3 ; Joel Whitney, 3; Oliver Whitmore, sen., I ; Luke Whit- more, I ; Elijah Wilder, 3
Villages and Hamlets .- In this department of this work it is not pro- posed to make any extended reference to the Indian occupation of any of the towns of the county, nevertheless, in this connection it is not in- appropriate to allude to the old Seneca villages which formerly existed in this town, in the north part thereof, one of them on lot 56, and the other on lot 58; but where they were first located and inhabited by the Senecas, and the precise date of their disappearance we know not of.
The present villages and hamlets of Seneca are five in number, four of them being on the line of the commonly called Northern Central rail- road, while the fifth is in the eastern part of the town, and is accessible only by team or foot travel.
Seneca Castle, the largest of the villages, and sometimes known as Castleton, is situated in the northwest part of the town, on Fiint Creek, also on the railroad extending from Stanley to Sodus Bay. The orig- inal name of the village was Castleton, and the application of the name Seneca Castle was an afterthought. As a trading center this place has some prominence, but during the last half century it can hardly be said to have increased or lessened in business interests or population. The village has two church societies, each of which has a substantial church home. Of these we may make a brief record.
The Presbyterian Church of Seneca Castle was a branch or off-shoot of the mother church at Geneva, the latter having been organized in 1798, and in connection therewith occasional services were conducted in this western part of the town, altthough it was not until 1828 that the Seneca Castle was fully organized. The early services here were held chiefly by Revs. Jedediah Chapman and Henry Axtell, the former the
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TOWN OF SENECA.
first, and the latter the second pastor of the church at Geneva. The Castleton (such was the name then) Church was organized February 5, 1828, with nineteen original members "inhabitants of the village of Castleton and its vicinity." On the 4th of March the trustees were chosen, and steps were at once taken to raise, means with which to erect a church home. This was quickly accomplished and the house was dedicated during the latter part of July, 1829.
The pastors, in succession, of this church have been as follows : Stephen Porter, Oren Catlin, Stephen Porter (second pastorate), George C. Hyde, R. Russell (supply), B. B. Gray, Alex. Douglass (supply), A. H. Parmelee, H. H. Kellogg, James S. Moore, and Howard Cornell, the latter being the present pastor, whose service as such began in June, 1893. The church has about eighty members, and a Sunday school with about ninety pupils.
The Castleton Methodist Episcopal Chapel was the outgrowth of a series of revival meetings held by the Presbyterians of this locality dur- ing the years 1830-31. The M. E. Class and church was organized soon after this time, and in 1842 the society erected a substantial brick edifice in the village. Its membership is about eighty, and the Sunday- school has about one hundred members. The present pastor is Rev. S. F. Beardslee.
Flint Creek is a small hamlet of about twenty dwelling-houses, one store, a post-office, a combined cider mill and wood working factory, the school of district No. 2, and a M. E. Church. The village is on the stream from which it is named, and is about midway between Seneca Castle and Stanley. A grist and saw-mill were in operation many years a few rods south of the village proper.
The M. E. Church at Flint Creek, one of three societies of this de- nomination in this town, is of comparatively recent origin, and is sup- plied in its pastoral relation from Hopewell. The present pastor in charge is Rev. Cordello Herrick.
Stanley, formerly Stanley's Corners, is second in size and greatest in business importance among the hamlets of Seneca. The village is sit- uated near the center of School District No. I. Here also the Northern Central railroad divides, one branch leading to the county seat and the other to Sodus Bay. During the year 1892 the long hoped for Middle-
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
sex Valley road was completed and put in operation between Stanley and Naples ; and during 1893 the work of construction on the same road between Stanley and Geneva is expected to be prosecuted.
Although of considerable importance among the hamlets of Seneca, Stanley is only a small place, having two good stores (Hill & Coon, and James A. Pulver), a hotel, a grain elevator, a good district school, and two churches.
St. Theresa's Roman Catholic parish was organized in 1875, and the church edifice was built in 1876. This parish is a joint station with Rushville, and includes about ninety families. The priests in charge have been Fathers James A. Connelly, Joseph Hendrick, Joseph J. Magin, D. W. Kavanaughı, J. H. Butler, James F. Dougherty, and John P. Hopkins.
The Methodist Episcopal Church and society of Stanley are also of quite recent organization. The church and class work began many years ago, and the organization duly followed. There are now about thirty- five members, and preparations are being made for the erection of a substantial church home in the village. The services are now con- ducted by Rev. O. D Davis, as supply, he being pastor of the church at Gorham village.
Hall's Corners is a small though busy hamlet in the south part of the town, and being in the center of a large fruit and grain region, becomes a place of much importance during the harvest and shipping season. The village proper is about forty rods from the station. The mer- chants are William C. Mead (also postmaster) and George O. Rippey & Son.
Seneca .- About a mile and one-half northeast of Hall's Corners is a little settlement and post office called Seneca. It has no industries of any importance, except the nursery of W. P. Rupert, yet around the old Presbyterian church at Seneca has been built up a quiet little set- tlement.
This church was organized June 29, 1807, by a devoted little band of Christians, by whom it was resolved "That we form ourselves into a church, to be denominated the Associate Reformed Church of the Town of Seneca." In July following the work of organization was completed, and at the first communion service forty-five members were on the
421
TOWN OF HOPEWELL.
church roll. After much work the little society succeeded in raising a fund and erecting a church edifice, a plain though neat frame structure, which was used about twenty five years, and then, in 1838 and '39, was superseded by a larger and more pretentious building, which the so- ciety still occupies. This edifice was enlarged and improved in 1862, and again in 1868.
In 1859 this church changed its ecclesiastical connection and became essentially Presbyterian in doctrine and teaching. Its present member- ship reaches the remarkable number of 350 persons, and within the bounds of the congregation there are maintained four Sunday-schools. The succession of pastors and supplies of this church has been as fol- lows: James Mears, Andrew Wilson (supplies), Thomas White (first pastor). William Nesbit, John D Gibson, Samuel Topping, George Patton, A. B. Temple. The latter, Mr. Teniple, became pastor in March, 1873, and has ever since continued in that relation, a period of more than twenty years.
Schools of the Town .- In traveling along the public thoroughfare of Seneca, the observer is at once attracted by the general beauty of his sur- roundings in every locality, but in respect to the public schools of the town his attention is at once called to their ever substantial appearance and pleasant situation. When the town was divided, in 1872, it became necessary to re-district the old town ; hence at that and at the present time its area is divided into thirteen districts, only two of which (Nos. 9 and 10) are not provided with school-houses. In 1892 the school pop- ulation was 798, to instruct whom there were employed fourteen teach- ers at an expense of $3,961. The total amount of money raised for school purposes was $5.445. Of the school- houses six are frame and five of brick, and the total value of all school property in the town is estimated at $13,750.
CHAPTER XXV.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF HOPEWELL.
O N the 27th of January, 1789, a district or town, called "Easton," was formed, and included within its boundaries all that is now Gorham and Hopewell. On April 19, 1806, the name was changed to
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
" Lincoln," and still later, April 6, 1807, to Gorham, being given the lat- ter name in allusion to and in honor of Nathaniel Gorham, one of the proprietors under the Massachusetts pre-emption purchase. In 1822, on March 29, Gorham was divided, and the north half was separately set off and named Hopewell. According to the Phelps and Gorham system of surveys, Hopewell is township 10, range 2, and contains, ap- proximately, thirty-six square miles of land.
In common with the towns generally of Western New York, the pioneers of Hopewell (though under its original name) were mainly New Englanders, therefore Yankees, and fully imbued with the characteristic spirit of thrift, push and progressiveness which so strongly marks that element of American citizens. The pioneer settlement in this town began in 1789 and the year following, and must have pro- gressed with great rapidity, for in 1830 it had a total population of more than two thousand, a number of inhabitants not exceeded or even equaled at any subsequent census enumeration.
In 1798 Oliver Phelps and General Israel Chapin proceeded to a point in town 10 range 2, about three miles northeast from Canandaigua, where they had a large tract of land, and on which they made some improvements which did much to invite and encourage settlement in the town ; the point has ever since been known as Chapinville ; and here in later years a thriving little hamlet grew up, became an early post vil- liage, and afterward a station on the Auburn and Rochester railroad.
The current of water in the outlet flowing northerly from Canandaigua Lake has at first but a slight fall, and it is not until about five miles northeasterly from the lake, at a place on the outlet now called Little- ville, that sufficient power for a grist-mill could be obtained, and this place was chosen for the pioneer mill. It is on the north bounds of the town of Hopewell adjoining the town of Manchester and about a mile south from Shortsville. Here Oliver Phelps erected a grist- mill in 1791 which was known as the Phelps Mill. Although but a crude and pigmy affair, it answered the purpose for some time, and the pioneer settlers came from long distances to get their grists ground. Samuel Day was engaged to run this mill, which had but one run of stone from which the flour was conveyed by a short spout to the bolt. Among the maps in the office of the State engineer of Albany is No. 341, " Map of Messrs.
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TOWN OF HOPEWELL.
Phelps and Gorham's Purchase." This map is dated 1792 and on it is located a mill on the Canandaigua outlet, at the junction of the Indian path or trail from Geneva through Oaks' Corners with the trail from Canandaigua Lake to the region of Palmyra. This is the precise loca- tion of the Phelps or Day Mill. In 1800 this mill was owned and operated by Edward Parker and run by him up to the time of his death, April 13, 1820, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. Afterward the place came into the possession of a company of " Fourierites," and in the fall of 1845 or spring of 1846, Norman C. Little came into possession, and in addition to the mill he kept a store. The place was called Little- ville after him, and continues to be known as such up to the present time. Being unsuccessful in business, after an occupancy of two or three years, the property was sold out by the sheriff, and Mr. Little moved to Saginaw, Mich., where he was afterwards found drowned in the river. There is another Littleville named after him, situated at the junction of the Conesus with the Genesee River, about one and a half miles south of Avon village, where a saw-mill was erected in 1796, a grist-mill in 1810, and soon followed by a distillery. About 1830 these came into possession of Norman C. Little who, in 1833, built a large store and had a considerable trade. About 1837 he sold out; but the place still retains the name of Littleville.
When the Moravian missionaries, Bishop Cammerhoff and Rev. David Zeisberger, visited this region in 1750, after crossing Flint Creek they proceeded along on the main trail, and they say: "Towards evening we reached an Indian settlement where a city by the name of Onnachee is said to have stood, which is now uninhabited." As Onnaghee has been fully spoken of in another place it is only necessary here to give the location of the town, which has been identified as having been on lot 20, on the farm of Darwin McClure, formerly owned by Cyrus Gates, and situated on the old turnpike about five and a half miles west of Flint Creek and about three miles southerly from Canandaigua village. It was about half a mile north of the turnpike and on the south side of Fall Brook. On the north side of the brook the ground is low and flat, but a short distance to the north and some twenty- five or thirty rods north of the Northern Central Railroad is a rise of ground of a sandy, gravelly soil, and on which was the Indian burial ground Here
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
quantities of skeletons have in time past been uncovered and brought to light by the cultivation of the land, and very large numbers of kettles, tomahawks, with some guns and other Indian implements and relics have been found. Some twelve or fifteen rods to the east of the village there are two springs of soft water, and some fifty rods to the west is a small spring of sulphur water. About sixty rods east of the village is a large flat limestone rock, hollowed on top, evidently for pounding corn in.
According to the best information now obtainable, the pioneers of Hopewell were Daniel Gates, Daniel Warner, Ezra Platt, Samuel Day, George Chapin, Israel Chapin, jr., Frederick Follett, Thomas Sawyer, Benjamin Wells and Mr. Sweet, all of whom were from Massachusetts, while William Wyckoff, who was another pioneer, was from Pennsyl- vania. A son was born to Benjamin Wells and wife on February 4, 1791, and was named Benjamin Wells, jr. This was the first birth in the town. Calvin Bacon opened a school in 1792, which also was the first event of its kind in Hopewell. While it is generally conceded that the pioneers above mentioned were the earliest settlers of Hopewell, there were others who are equally worthy of notice in the same connection ; and while the majority of the pioneers were New Englanders, or Yankees, other localities contributed to the early population of this town Penn- sylvania and Maryland were represented by substantial natives who sought homes in this region, their coming being influenced by the agents of the London Associates, who caused highways to be made from Penn- sylvania to the Genesee country, and otherwise invited settlement in the whole region west of Seneca Lake.
In addition to those already mentioned as first settlers in Hopewell, we may with propriety recall the names of others who are deserving of mention in the same relation, although the dates of settlements cannot be learned. Of many of these pioneer families and their descendants there will be found biographical sketches in a later department of this volume, wherefore in this chapter there need be given nothing more than a mention of the names of heads of families. Richard Jones was a Marylander, and came to Hopewell in 1805, and whose descendants are still living in the town. Nathaniel Lewis, Elam Smith, Vimri Dens- more, George Le Vere, Robert Buchan, John Price, Daniel Le Vere, John Freshour, Israel, John and Stephen Thatcher, Major Elijah Mur -
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TOWN OF HOPEWELL.
ray (a Revolutionary survivor), Elijah Ellis, John Russell, David W Beach, William Bodman, Erastus Leonard, Luther Porter, Robert Penn, Samuel Bush, Joshua Case, Oliver and William Babcock, John Ricker, Amos Knapp, Silas Benham, C. P. Bush, Daniel Warren, Shuball Clark, John Hart, John Faurot, George Chapin, Russell Warren, Dedrick Coursen, Robert Davidson, Moses De Pew, John Gregg, James Moore, James Birdseye, Edward Root, Ezekiel Crane, John McCauley, David Aldrich, Amos, Amasa and James Gillett, Joseph Lee, Oliver Warren, Elam Crane, Ezra and Leonard Knapp, Thaddeus Benham, Elisha Higby, William Canfield, Andrew Bush, Elder Anson Shay, John Kellogg, Thomas Edmundson, Daniel Macumber, Captain Thomas Davis, Rufus Warner, Apollas Baker, John Church, Jonas Whitney, Asel and Constant Balcom, Eben and Eli Benham, Ezra Newton and others whose names are forgotton or lost by lapse of time. These also were pioneers of the town whose coming and after labors contributed much to the early prosperity of Hopewell, and many of them left chil- dren, the descendants of whom still reside in the town and are numbered among its best citizens.
In addition to the many already mentioned, the names of other fam- ilies may also be recalled as among the early settlers in Hopewell. There were the surnames of Thomas, Derr, Spangle, Skinner, Cleve- land, Knapp, Marks, Sly, Purdy, Ketcham, Brundage, Bishop, Pem- broke, Woodin, Knickerbocker and others now lost to memory, all of whom settled in Hopewell at an early day, the descendants of some of whom are yet in the town and identified with its present history and progress.
During the War of 1812 the young men of the town, as well as some of the older residents, were numbered among the enrolled militia, and as such rendered efficient service on the frontier, under command of General Porter. A full account of this service is detailed in a preced- ing chapter, to which the reader's attention is directed, and while no record exists to show the names of Hopewell men who performed serv- ice during that year, we may at least refer to the period, and know that some of the present residents of the town can connect their ances- tors with the events of the war.
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426
HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
A reference to the war of 1812 naturally suggests at least a passing allusion to the still more important period of the war of 1861-65, and known as the late rebellion. In 1860 the town of Hopewell had a population of less than 2,000 inhabitants, notwithstanding which during the war, it furnished volunteers and troops for all branches of the serv- ice to the extent of more than 200 men, or more than ten per cent. of the town's population at the time. The history and record of the vol- unteers of Ontario county is given in one of the general chapters of this volume, but the history of Hopewell would be incomplete without some reference to this period of the war.
As has already been stated Hopewell attained its maximum popula - tion in 1830, or between 1820 and 1830. In 1822 the town was set off from Gorham and made a separate civil division of the county, and the first Federal census was made eight years later. The subsequent dimi- nution in population in the town is fairly shown by extracting from the census reports, and while the last sixty years have witnessed a falling off of about 600 in the number of inhabitants, the fact occasions neither alarm nor apprehension, for the same causes contributed to it that have reduced the rural population throughout the Eastern and Middle States. However, let us look at the census records and note the changes in population in this town throughout these years. In 1830 the popula- tion was 2,202; in 1840 it was 1,976; in 1850 it was 1,923; in 1860 it was 1,970; in 1870 it was 1,863 ; in 1880 it was 1,894; and in 1890 it was 1,655.
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